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This is probably not the first time we’ve mentioned this article but, it’s a good read for those considering a new AR and debating the traditional direct impingement (DI) verses short and long-stroke piston designs available today. It’s written by Mike Pannone. Pannone’s opinions carry a good deal of weight with me. He opens thusly:

I fired 2400 rounds of M193 through a 14.5” M4-type upper receiver from Bravo Company Manufacturing (BCM) with no lubrication, and without any rifle-caused malfunctions. So; why can I get my direct impingement rifles to repeatedly do things that conventional wisdom says they can’t do?

The article was originally published in 2010 but, it applies today as much as it did then. I for one have not been bitten by the piston bug mainly because the would be engineer in me looks at piston driven ARs as a “retrofit” of an existing system that in my own experience runs just fine if built by a reputable builder/manufacturer and properly maintained by me. Pannone’s article is not a DI v. piston debate piece. In fact, it focuses on the M4 in its original DI format and straight-forward, simple solutioned Pannone has found allow the classic M4 to run well over 2000 with zero issues, even with little or no lubrication. You can read the article in its entirety here.

Twenty-seven thousand, five hundred dollars. I had to type that out just to see how it might look on a check. Why? Because that’s the price one pays to take delivery of the TrackingPoint XS1. At $27,500, the XS1 is TrackingPoint’s flagship Precision Guided Firearm (PGF) and before I shouldered one last month, there was absolutely no way you’d have convinced me a rifle, any rifle, was worth anywhere near that amount of money. But, I came away from the experience with a very different point of view. It has taken me until now to gather my thoughts and put it all together. I am simply in the wrong tax bracket to afford this rifle. That’s the truth. But, I’m also in the wrong tax bracket to afford a Ferrari 458. Ferrari still sells every 458 they make and the guys who own them would argue they are worth every penny. And if I had the scratch to write the check for the Ferrari, I’d also gladly cut one for this rifle.

image courtesy of TrackingPoint

Contrary to what some (who obviously have never seen it in person) say, TrackingPoint is not just a scope. TrackingPoint is in fact, an applied technologies firm offering a fully integrated, precision guided firearm system to well-healed, big-game hunters but, there are obvious law enforcement and military applications. Having said all this, the heart of the system is indeed a scope, described by TrackingPoint as a Networked Tracking Scope. But again, it is so much more than just a scope. Yes, it has an integrated ballistic calculator like some other scopes but, the scope also houses a microphone, camera, compass, wifi server, laser rangefinder, as well as accelerometers, gyros, and sensors for barometric pressure and temperature. The only environmental factor a shooter has to provide is the wind value, entered in half-mile-per-hour increments via a toggle switch on the top of the scope.

image courtesy of TrackingPoint

But wait, there’s more! The XS1 system offers 6-35X, parallax-free magnification and presents that data to the user as a sort of heads up display with infinite eye-relief. The heads up display presented to the shooter is “Call of Duty” meets “Deer Hunter” with a little “Ghost Recon” mixed in for good measure. The display provides the shooter with readouts for cant, compass heading, incline, temperature, barometric pressure, distance to target and finally, wind speed and direction. As mentioned earlier, wind speed and direction data are provided by the shooter. The shooter manually provides this data via a toggle switch on top of the scope. So for those of you thinking this is cheating, here is a key point…The shooter still has to accurately read the wind at the target. Long range rifle shooters know that learning to read and correctly call the wind is critical to long range shooting. That skill is still necessary to get the most out of this system. The difference is you’re not having to hold for that correction for it as that part is automated based on the values you’ve entered.

This brings us to what TrackingPoint calls the Tag Track Xact (TTX) shot sequence. It begins with turning the scope “on” via a button located at the rear of the scope. At this moment, the scope can emulates a traditional glass optic with first plane, mil-dot reticle and a fully manual trigger. But after 15 seconds, you can enable the TTX sequence by pressing the MODE button on the top of the scope to put the system into “advanced” mode which provides you with all the incredible telemetry mentioned earlier as well as activating the rifle’s tagging, tracking, and automated firing capabilities.

Tag…image courtesy of TrackingPoint

The “Tag” stage begins with the shooter looking through scope where he will find a white dot in the middle of his display. The shooter places this white dot on his intended target, then presses and holds the red “Tag Button” at the front of the rifle’s trigger bow until he has aligned the dot with his intended point of impact (e.g. heart/lung area of his intended animal). This process “paints” the target and laser rangefinding system measures the distance to target. The shooter then releases the Tag Button and the system is now “locked on” with the intended point of aim and calculates a firing solution based on the previously discussed telemetry measured by the scope’s on board systems and your wind data. This tag is persistent. The rifle is now “tracking” your target and the intended point of impact in that target.

Track…image courtesy of Tracking Point

At the “Track” stage of the process, the ballistic computer in the “Networked Tracking Scope” accounts for all the environmental variables and calculates a firing solution for the previously tagged point of impact. The system now continually adjusts even if the animal moves or you move the rifle. The system can calculate lead on a target moving as fast as 10 miles-per-hour. But we still need to launch a bullet and this is where things get interesting.

Xact…image courtesy of TrackingPoint

The shooter now commits to the shot by bringing his crosshairs back to the intended point of impact and pressing the trigger. Here is where the “Xact” phase begins. While the shooter has “satisfied” the trigger at this stage, rifle doesn’t necessarily fire immediately. This is the result of the marriage between the Networked Tracking Scope and what TrackingPoint calls the “Guided Trigger.” There is a hardwired connection between scope and trigger. Pressing the trigger merely arms the system. The bullet is not released until the rifle is in e”Xact” alignment with the calculated firing solution. TrackingPoint is cautions against confusing this feature with Remington’s failed “etronix” experiment that required special, electronically primed ammunition. The trigger is actually a conventional Jewell-type trigger with the addition of what amounts to an electric solenoid that is controlled by the scope while operating in “advanced” mode. Conversely, at the moment the scope is turned on, the rifle is in “basic” mode and the trigger operates conventionally, firing the rifle whether it’s aligned with a target or not. The “guided” features mentioned above are only enabled in the advanced mode of the scope.

Now in addition to all this precision guided fun, what we didn’t cover is the ability to share what you’re seeing through the scope with another person. The scope’s built-in WiFi server.is specifically meant to allow the transmission of video to your Android device, iPhone, or iPad. So in real time, your guide can confirm that you are looking at the right animal and be sure that your intended point of impact will be an ethical shot that minimizes suffering for the animal. You also have the ability to record video of the shot or miss, the system isn’t fool proof. Still, one can look at it as a way of providing ultimate proof of the shots you’ve made. In fact, TrackingPoint even setup a website specifically for those wanting to show off what they’ve been able to do with their TrackingPoint rifles at shotmade.com. No more telling tall tales of shots on trophy sized animals that don’t exist. As I see it, there’s no more claiming you made a shot on an animal at 500 yards with only a photo of the dead carcass to prove it. Now you’ve got the ability to record video and share it with your friends/family if you choose. I still remember the moment I shot my first deer. I honestly wish I had video of it because it was a beautiful shot in which I picked a buck out of a crowd as if snatching a needle from a hay stack. While I enjoy telling the story, I’d love to be able to show the video.

Image by G. Montgomery

While the scope is certainly the highlight of the system, the best guidance system in the world is only as good as the rifle to which it is mounted. And Surgeon Rifles clearly deserves a great deal of credit for the results achieved with the TrackingPoint XS1, XS2, and XS3 because each TrackingPoint rifle begins as a complete rifle built to TrackingPoint’s specifications by Surgeon Rifles. The XS1 and XS2 models look largely identical because they are with the exception of the fact the XS1 is chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum while the XS2 is chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum. The XS3 is also chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum but, features a more conventional McMillan A5 stock. Unlike the XS1’s phenomenal 1,200 yard effective range, the lighter XS2 and XS3 are limited to “only” 850 yards.

In the case of the XS1, I have to say that this was the softest shooting .338 Lapua Magnum I have ever shouldered. By comparison, my current Remington 700 SPS Varmint in .308 Winchester has more felt recoil than the XS1. One might argue the XS1 should be the softest .338 Lapua I’ve ever shot because the XS1 tips the scales at seventeen pounds and is equipped with Advanced Armament Corp’s Blackout 90T muzzle brake, one the most efficient muzzle brakes available. Why so heavy and what’s a muzzle brake? The weight brings stability and a reduction in felt recoil. The muzzle brake further reduces recoil by redirecting the gasses exiting the muzzle behind the bullet to counteract the reward motion of the rifle. My Remington with ammo and scope only weighs about half of what the XS1 does and with no muzzle brake, has more felt recoil than the XS1 despite shooting a lighter cartridge.

As mentioned earlier, all of the TrackingPoint rifles began life as Surgeon rifles built specifically for TrackingPoint. So, if you’re willing to wait a little over 2 years, you could buy the rifle upon which the XS1 is based, sans the TrackingPoint guidance system. The XS1 specifically is based on the Surgeon Remedy XL rifle that began with a Surgeon XL action weighing in at almost 4lbs, mated to 7lbs and 27-inches of Kreiger MTU barrel goodness sitting in an Accuracy Interrnational AX AICS chassis that brings another 5.6lbs to the party. As mentioned, the sheer mass is actually a benefit, resulting in rifle that is honestly comfortable to shoot all day. I’ve shouldered several .338 Lapua rifles over the years and came away from every one of them with a little soreness the next day. Not so with the XS1. The only discomfort I had resulting from my time with the XS1 was trying to figure out what organs I’d have to sell to own one. For now, I’m just hoping August Crocker and his crew at TrackingPoint will give me a call and tell me I could come shoot it again.

So is it worth it? Believe it or not, I’m offering a qualified “yes.” I know, a bunch of guys are going to say that’s nuts but, hear me out. This isn’t a rifle for the average long-range shooter. This is a rifle for the high end hunter who typically goes on guided hunts in which he’s spending as much as $40,000 on a single animal. That’s the honest truth. So the typical buyer isn’t a guy who has or wants to spend his free time getting a gun up and running. It’s hard to do apples to apples comparisons because what TrackingPoint has done is actually rather unique. They’ve built a turn-key system that an executive can buy and expect to use to hit a moving target at up to 1,200 yards with less than ten minutes of training.

In all seriousness, to build a roughly equivalent rifle, you can count on easily spending $5,500 for Surgeon Remedy XL rifle on which the XS1 is based. Toss in another $3,500 or so for Schmidt&Bender glass that will hold up to the shock and allow you to exploit the .338 Lapua’s capabilities. By the time the glass is mounted up, you’re a little over $9k.between the rifle, glass, rings, and base. Now lets buy a top notch set of rangefinder binoculars ($3,300) because we know this guy isn’t going to scrape by with cheap gear. So now we’re over $12,000 into the project. Toss in another $1,000 for the ammo. So we’re into this ride for at least $13,000. The gun isn’t up and running yet because we haven’t actually mounted the glass, broken the rifle in, worked up a load, zeroed the rifle, or put together dope cards. Oh wait, we haven’t learned to shoot yet so there’s that whole issue and let’s not forget that time is money. What I’m getting at is that if you’re the kind of guy who can spend five-digits just to get started on this project, dropping $27,500 on a turnkey solution that, out of the box, with less than ten minutes of training, allows you to deliver hits on targets up to 1,200 yards out with sub-MOA accuracy simply isn’t that big a deal. In fact, it could be argued it’s a steal.

If you’d like to learn more about the TrackingPoint rifle, check out their website at Tracking-Point.com. Demand has been high.. You’re looking at a six to nine month delivery window but, TrackingPoint is in the process of expanding their production capacity to shorten that delivery time. The rifle is delivered as a turnkey system with the scope in stalled and the rifle already broken in, trued, and zeroed. In addition to the Integrated Networked Tracking Scope, Guided Trigger, and Tag Button, you get a Kestrel wind meter, 200 rounds of 300 gr. Sierra Open-Tipped Match XactShot ammunition by Barnes®, Harris bipod with Larue quick-detach mount, 3 batteries and chargers, a cleaning kit, owner’s manual, as well as an Apple iPad Mini preloaded with TrackingPoint applications and content. All of this comes in a custom Pelican 3300 hard case with TrackingPoint logo.

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I spent a couple hours with the guys from TrackingPoint this week to check out their XS1 Precision Guided Firearm in .338 Lapua. I went in thinking there was no way anyone could convince me the rifle was worth $27,500. Well, I was wrong.

At a recent Course, one of my students had an ND in his hotel room. It
was a single shot from a pistol that hit the floor (ground-floor room). No
personal injury and only slight property damage, which my student graciously
took care of promptly. The bullet (9mm hardball) demolished itself on the
concrete floor.

The is the second such incident involving my students that I am aware of.
The first, also involving no injury and only minor property damage, took
place several years ago.

We’ve all heard about these unhappy episodes. The cause is invariably the
confluence of:

(1) Exhaustion
(2) Distraction
(3) Poor Procedure

My student returned to his room after a long and exhausting day of
training. After a tense and unhappy phone conversation with his wife, he started
to unload one of his pistols. Midway through to process, he turned on the
TV. The ND occurred a second later!

There is often little we can do about physical and mental exhaustion, but
we can observe these criterion:

(1) Avoid unnecessary gun-handling. When there is no legitimate reason to
handle guns, don’t! Many NDs happen during unnecessary, purposeless
unloading, which necessitates redundant re-loading later on. Both installments
can usually be eliminated altogether! When a gun can safely remain loaded
in a hotel room, leave it in that condition and handle it only as necessary
to get it where you want it for the balance of the evening.

(2) When you must unload/load/perform a chamber-check in a hotel room:

(a) Before you start, specifically locate and positively identify a
relatively safe direction in which to point your gun while you’re handling it
(b) Turn off the TV/radio
(c) Get off the phone
(d) Stop all conversations
(e) Get sufficient light on the task at hand
(f) Devote complete attention to what you’re doing. Don’t allow yourself
to become distracted.
(g) Complete the task, start to finish, without interruption/intermission.
When you are unavoidably interrupted, go back and start the process over,
from the beginning. Don’t try to “pick it up where you left-off!”

Keep in mind that the time you are most likely to experience an ND is
within two seconds of your last ND! NDs tend to come in pairs, sometimes in
multiples. And, once it happens, it is too late to “wonder” in what
direction your muzzle was pointed!

In most hotel rooms, a relatively safe direction (at least for pistols) is
usually represented by the toilet bowl and the air-conditioner. A pistol
bullet impacting into either of these objects will surely do damage, but
will probably not penetrate through-and-through.

A superior alternative, and the one I adhere to, is to travel with a “Safe
Direction” ballistic pad. These ballistic containment systems are an
integral part of every Operator’s travel ensemble. With it, I can instantly ”
manufacture” a safe direction in which to point my pistol virtually
anywhere! Go to safedirection.com

These episodes are, of course, embarrassing for both the student involved,
and for me! Thank Heaven, the two I’ve been close to involved only
property damage. I know many of us naively believe we would never be “that
stupid.” The two students described above foolishly believed the same thing!

Carefully adhere to the foregoing advice. But, even them, there are no
guarantees!

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I guess the Army is actually listening to the troops for once. No Mags are perfect, but P-Mags are far better that most of the mags out there.

From Military.com…
“The Pentagon has clarified the Army’s stance on a recent safety message that effectively banned a certain high-performance, commercial M4 magazine, which means soldiers can keep using their PMAGs.

The confusion began when Army officials from the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command issued a message in April, declaring that the only government-issued aluminum magazines were authorized for use in the M4 and M16 rifles.”